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Revellers in Leicester Square enjoyed more than 1,000 free pancakes given out by West Hampstead’s Kindness Offensive on Tuesday in spite of the pouring rain.

Two London Wasps Rugby Players Paul Sackey and Joe Simpson showed up to help spead the kindness and the offensive also gave away lots of children’s toys.

David Goodfellow, co-founder of the Kindness Offensive, said: “It was a great event. We had quite a bit of rain but it was still a success and everyone had a great time.”

And at Waitrose in Finchley Road, Marie Curie Cancer Care launched their appeal with some pancake fun. The supermarket held their annual Pancake Day race to launch the appeal and encourage residents to buy a daffodil and support the charity.

Community fundraiser Emma Segal Said: “Every donation for a daffodil will help your local Marie Curie Hospice, Hampstead to provide expert care and a better quality of life, totally free, for patients with cancer and other illnesses.”

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The Kindness Offensive served free pancakes, teas and coffees to at lest one thousand people throughout the course of the morning from 8am until 11:45am at Ed’s Diner on Rupert street. The kitchen was buzzing with activity as volunteers in fluorescent jackets and yellow hard hats cooked and served the awaiting, slightly bemused customers. One member was also handing out free presents to the kids. The random act of kindness was in support of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), ChildLine and the Child’s Voice appeal, which aims to transform ChildLine and the NSPCC helpline to ensure a greater service for children.

A number of celebrities were there to help publicize the event, such as magician and mind reader Jamie Raven. Incidentally his magical powers enabled me to bend a 20p coin in my own hand. Definitely entertaining for the kids! Also attending were London Wasps rugby players Paul Sackey and Lachlan Mitchell amongst others. On the whole the morning was a great success, with many happy faces and stomachs all round.

http://www.demotix.com/news/251895/kindness-offensive-offer-free-pancakes-eds-diner-london

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TKO interviewed on BBC Radio Guernsey, January 25th 2010.

The Life Guide

1)    For inspiration, read Danny Wallace’s ‘Random Acts of Kindness: 365 Ways To Make The World A Nicer Place’ (Ebury).

2)    Make someone’s morning – give up your seat on the train, hold the door open, smile for absolutely no good reason.

3)    Handwrite a letter to a friend. Bills and bank statements make up the majority of mail we receive as adults, which is why receiving a letter feels like such a treat. On beautiful stationery, with your neatest pen, take time to craft a letter of appreciation to a dear friend.

4)    A favourite kind act is to pay someone a compliment, so start with yourself. Begin each day with a kind thought about you.

5)    If you’re in London, join The Kindness Offensive, an organisation that commits random acts of kindness on sometimes industrial scale across the capital. Sign up at thekindnessoffensive.com

6)    Save a stranger’s life. Whatever your blood type, the National Blood Service (blood.co.uk) needs it. Find out how to donate at blood.co.uk. Donating isn’t the only way to help, the NBS needs volunteers to help run its centers and encourage donations. For and act of kindness that will last long after you’ve gone, sign the NHS organ donor register online at the uktransplant.org.uk.

7)    How many unwanted presents are lurking at the back of your wardrobe? Make this the year you ask for donations to charity instead. Try Oxfam Unwrapped, Cow ‘n’ Things or charity gifts.org for inspiration.

(David Goodfellow and James Hunters, two of the co-founders of TKO, “It’s a great way to meet people and it’s more rewarding than staying at home”, says the first one.)

(London) To provide tons of food for poor people, to offer thousands of hampers for Christmas : is that a job for charities? Not for three young Londoners with a big heart, whose work has been recognized by the Mayor of the London. Armed solely with a phone and an unshakable will, the TKO trio have fulfilled the wishes, big and small, of thousands of people.

Young Londoners are trying to spread a new virus in the streets of London: The Kindness Offensive. Their bottom line? “Be very kind, it’s cool!”

Everything began on a beautiful summers day, in August 2008. Three flat-mates, David Goodfellow, Benny Crane and James Hunter started to hail people in a park with a somewhat strange question.

“What can we do for you?” they asked astonished people passing by.

The answers? Chocolates for a grandmother. An electric guitar for a boy. A birthday party for a little girl.

The good Samaritans got to work. After several refusals, companies answered the call. The granny got her truffles, the boy his Yamaha guitar. The little girl celebrated her 11th birthday with the Moscow Circus acrobats!

“The Kindness Offensive” was born.

“It had a snowball effect. It’s a real treat to give. It’s a great way to meet people and more rewarding than staying at home”, says the 30 year old David Goodfellow, to La Presse.

Nothing is done in halves with them. In October 2008, they gave away 25 tons of non-perishable foods to 14 refugees centers, compliments of General Mills. After a phone call to the food giant, an 18 wheeler truck parked by their house, leaving the neighborhood bewildered.

Contagious Kindness

Since then, their great feats keep adding up. They, for instance, gave away 500,000 pancakes last February. Videos of their good deeds got millions of hits on Youtube.

Their efforts have been noticed and appreciated. “I had tears in my eyes last Christmas”, says Robert Williams, a Canadian volunteer. “They were giving away hampers to everyone in the streets, even the street workers.”

The Mayor of London has also been seduced. “They have brought immeasurable joy to thousands of Londoners”. Said Boris Johnson, last March.

The happy group proved that kindness is indeed contagious. It is people willing to give, rather than people asking for things who knock on their door in numbers. “We’re having one to two volunteers signing up a day”, explains David Goodfellow. “They are aged 7 to 77. Companies are also contacted us. Lots of people in their offices want to do good in this world.”

2010 is looking good. “Everything we’ve done so far is a walk in park compared to what we’re preparing now”, he says. “If any multi-national companies are reading these lines, we need all the help they can provide.”

By MALI ILSE PAQUIN

Kindly Translated by Christophe Belami